December 10, 2021
Search our extensive collection of American newspapers and veterans affairs obituaries to explore history and learn more about your ancestors’ lives. More than 42 million American men and women have served in times of combat since the country’s founding over 200 years ago. With GenealogyBank’s online platform, you can quickly find veteran obituaries that commemorate generations of U.S. military heroes who have made sacrifices – for some, the ultimate sacrifice – to safeguard our nation and its liberties.
With over 330 years of U.S. newspaper coverage, our extensive collection of more than 13,000 U.S. newspapers – plus thousands of historical books and government publications – give detailed coverage of the day-to-day life of our veteran family members. Begin by looking through prominent newspapers, veterans obituaries, and historical publications from around the United States to trace the military heroes in your family.
How to Find Veteran Obituaries
Finding specific obituaries for military personnel is easy, thanks to our vast collection of newspapers, documents, and records. Explore your family history in minutes with our easy-to-use platform. You may search all of GenealogyBank’s collections at once using the search form at the top of the home page. It looks like this:
Begin with a Name
If your veteran ancestor’s last name is rare, you may search with only that, or include a first name if the last name is common. Be sure to search on variations of your ancestor’s name to account for different spellings – and try nicknames as well, such as Bill for William.
When the terms you put in the Last Name and First Name fields come within two words of each other in an article, you’ll receive a match. Whether the names are separated by a middle name or an initial, our proximity search detects them. Search results are sorted into collections and you can view matches by selecting a collection title.
Use Keywords to Narrow Your Search
You can add keywords to help find your specific ancestor. Try terms like a career, a location, a college, a corporation, or a spouse’s name linked with your military veteran in the Include Keywords field. You also have the option to use the Exclude Keywords field, if certain words keep coming up in your search results that have nothing to do with your ancestor. Using or excluding keywords can narrow down your search of veterans’ obituaries.
Narrow Your Search by Date and State
Along with names and keywords, the search form on GenealogyBank’s home page gives you two other search options: Date and State fields. With the Date field, you can either search a date range or a specific date. The State field gives you a drop-down menu where you can choose one or several states to narrow your search.
Organize Your Searches
GenealogyBank lets you save what you uncover, organize it, and share it with others. You can download photographs, save searches, clip family documents, make to-do lists, keep track of recent activity, share findings, and much more with ease.
You Can Limit Your Search to Just Newspapers
While there are some obituaries in government publications and other records (which is why you might want to search all of GenealogyBank’s collections at once), most obituaries of course were published in newspapers – and you can search just newspapers if you’d like. GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives have their own search page which gives you a few more options than the general search form on the home page. It looks like this:
Newspapers Search Form
Along with the Name, Keywords, Date, and State fields you find on the general search form, the newspaper search form lets you get even more specific. If you choose a State, then the City drop-down menu lets you pick any (or several) cities within that state. If you choose a City, then the Newspaper drop-down menu lets you pick any (or several) newspapers within that state.
GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives
Our newspaper collection contains more than 13,000 newspapers published in America. African Americans, Germans, Irish, Italians, and Latinos, among others, have newspapers published by their communities in GenealogyBank’s collection. Some of these newspapers are published in just that community’s language, while others are bilingual.
Dive Deep into History
A search for army veteran obituaries may provide a wealth of information on a person. It might be a memorial with an extensive biography, or a short death notice like a public death notification. Every obituary offers a tale about the life of the person who has passed away. A veteran’s obituary will frequently reveal if the individual was married, who their offspring were, who their relatives were, the names of their partners, and a variety of other facts. This wealth of information allows users to do a deep dive into their family history and learn about their ancestors in a way they never have before.
When you look for obituaries, you’ll often find that it’s the first and only time a person’s name has appeared in a newspaper. Obituaries are regarded as a permanent written record of a person’s life. Family, ancestors, friends, life partners, and even distant strangers might be found in obituary archives. A single obituary is a written record of a person’s life and is essential in the preservation of history. Many obituaries from the same locality or period will provide insight into the lives of our veteran ancestors and their communities.
Finding a person’s obituary is like unlocking a secret door that leads to incredible discoveries. All veterans’ obituaries link us across place and time, allowing us to learn critical facts about family members and friends while preserving history for future generations. Veteran obituaries often detail the deceased’s military service. An excellent veteran obituary will typically include the following information:
- What branch of the service a veteran served in
- What rank they attained
- When they were in the military
- Which conflicts they took part in
- Any awards or decorations they earned
Search Veteran Obituaries Today
Obituaries help to preserve family history and honor the memory of a loved one. Most obituaries feature a list of living and deceased relatives, as well as an opportunity to relive special memories or remember unique qualities about your veteran family member. An obituary is a brief chronicle of your loved one’s life that will not be lost online, unlike a fleeting social media post. They’re simple to find and will always be available at your fingertips with a quick search on our platform.
To discover more about how to locate a specific veteran’s obituary, contact GenealogyBank today. Our Customer Support staff is available Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. MST: 1-866-641-3297.
